Iron Smiths

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”(Galatians 5:22-23NLT)

Let me share with you a time that I felt extremely horrible. You see I treated a young woman at a juice shop terribly one morning and embarrassed my wife too. All because I felt entitled to different treatment than everyone else, there I said it, whew!!!! 

While at the counter of this juice shop I became indignant with the young woman taking my order all because I could not hear her and she could not hear me. I was sitting in a wheel chair and she was standing behind the register and for some reason the music was extremely loud. Well with that being said, I got angry and began to speak loudly or as my wife gently pointed out yell at the poor young woman who may not have had any control over the sound level in the shop, why didn't I think of that? Anyways, I finally got my order and stormed out embarrassed for my wife and yes myself because I did not show any fruits of the spirit at all.

Something to remember:

Even when they accosted Jesus in the garden and came at him like he was some sort of villain, he exercised the fruits and even placed back the ear Peter cut off of one the accusers.

What an awesome example we have in Jesus.

“Don’t worry about anything: Instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4: 6-7 NLT)

“Don’t Be Anxious; Instead Trust God” 

Every time I come across this promise, it always brings a smile to my face. It is as if the Lord just wants to get my attention prior to making a decision. If you have children, you know very well that many times the decisions that little children make are not the very best.  Very often, I look back and tell myself, especially when I made a mess of a situation, if I had only prayed before I said-did that, the outcome would have been different.  When situations are not prayed about, anxieties rise and there is no overall peace of knowing that the outcome is of God. On the contrary, every time I pray before I make a decision, whether the outcome is beneficial to me or not, it always gives me that sense of peace that the Lord is with me. Even though the decision may not look beneficial at the moment, God’s timing and being His child, is always beneficial. Having that peace that the Lord gives is always very comforting. The beautiful hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” puts it perfectly when it says that…

“Oh what peace we often forfeit

Oh what needless pain we bear

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in Prayer

Have we trials and temptations

Is there trouble anywhere

We should never be discouraged take it to the Lord in prayer”

We live in a society that is rapidly disintegrating; tempting us to go with the flow of the world. But, Paul reminds us in Romans (12-2) saying “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”. I pray that we let Jesus be the Lord of our lives in order for us to understand the peace that will guard our hearts and minds. Only Jesus can bring this into our lives.   

“He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”[MATTHEW 17:20 NIV]

I love the fact that Jesus used the term, "Since you have so little faith." then made reference to their faith by using the example, saying, “if you have faith as small as a mustard seed." I believe that the word "if" can be translated, "since you have so little faith." Meeting them right where they are, What a great God!

This reminds me of a time when I exercised little faith, While my wife on the other hand showed great faith. We were at the super market with our last fifty dollars shopping for some very much needed items. As we walked through the store gathering these items my wife took notice of a woman and her children also walking through the super market. As my wife got closer to the woman and her children she realized that the children were crying that they were hungry and were hoping that their mom could by some of their favorite things. Reluctantly the mom said no as she had not enough money. My wife being in the other moms situation felt the Lord tell her to give our fifty dollars, so she did. This made me upset because we needed groceries too. We left the super market and I began to lecture her on what a bad idea that was. I then stated, "Now what are we supposed to do about our household and our needs?" "Is God just going to drop off bags full of groceries?" This to me was a mountain. No sooner than those words left my mouth, a woman pulled up in her car, opened her car door and began to unload bags of groceries right there on the street saying, "While I was in the store I came across some wonderful deals and God placed it on my heart to buy extra for someone." "When I pulled around the corner in my car God said, The groceries are for the Alvarez's, Stop and give the groceries to them."

WOW!!! Is right, I couldn't believe my eyes and ears. God is so faithful, even when we exercise very little faith.

Family of God, I hope this will increase your faith liked it has ours.

“And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.” [Hebrews 4:13 NKJV)]

Our human tendencies are to want to fix and or cover up our mistakes. It is then that we realize that we have only masked the issue and have created a bigger mess for ourselves. As our text in Hebrews goes on to tell us, it is a much better plan to “Hold fast our confession.” God knows us better than we know ourselves, and so let God work His perfect plan in us, so that we may enjoy all the blessings He has for us. The Scriptures tells us that “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus knows and sees the intentions of our heart. Our beloved Pastor Chuck Smith used to say, “There is only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”